Quirky college essays that worked

Note to Janet, above.
I graduated from an Ivy League university (no family connections). They gave me a 4 year full tuition scholarship. I had to repeat a year (9th grade) of high school because I was in a psychiatric institution. When their campus representative came to my high school, I asked to speak to him (as others were doing). I said that I was very impressed with his university and mentioned professors by name and specific types of classes that appealed to me. I then told him that I had been in a psychiatric hospital and the experience had taught me the benefits of learning, education, reading–all very true.